Archive for What’s Hanging In The Shop?

15-30 min watercolor sketches are an immensely satisfying way to pass the time and get to know a building, place, or test ideas. I enjoy the imperfect translation these paints make between objects, light, my eyes, my brain, my hands, the paints, the brush and the paper. Inspired by the drawings of friends and teachers Fred Birchman, Judith Swain, Bob Hull and Frank Harmon, I have learned to treasure the creation of these artifacts, and I believe much can be gained by just doing the work. Thanks for looking at them and I hope to make more.

Whenever I sit down to doodle, I always draw a man. I draw a variation of several different dudes that I have in my visual library. I don’t do this consciously, it’s just what comes out. As a result whenever I need to draw a female character or a non-masculine appearing person, I feel stumped. So I took this opportunity to draw 20 women as an exercise to break up a bad habit.

It’s a cool grey weekend here in Madrona, but “damp and cloudy” is not the description of our weekend tastings. We have a full line or bright and clear wines to try that will chase the grey away. We are also having the artist reception for our new show by David Kane.

Also Sunday from 3pm to 5pm artist David C. Kane will be at the shop introducing our new show Enigmas for Madrona. Stop on in, meet the artist and see the new show.

Madrona Wine Merchants offers free wine tastings featuring 4-5 selections on a theme every Saturday from 2 until the bottles run out and on Sunday we offer a mini-tasting of two wines all day from 11-5.

For years, David C. Kane was an eccentric yet beloved fixture of the Seattle art scene.

Year after year he produced work praised by cognoscenti for its eerie charm, sardonic humor, and strange iconography. Since decamping for the Skagit Valley four years ago, his work has been seldom seen in Seattle, so getting to see a recent body of work is a real treat.

Madrona Wine Merchants offers free wine tastings featuring 4-5 selections on a theme every Saturday from 2pm until the bottles run out and on Sunday we offer a mini-tasting of two wines all day from 11-5pm.

Having grown up in the suburbs of Long Island, I had no idea the Olympic National Park would have such a deep effect on me. I have camped and hiked there in all weather extremes. These paintings depict a few of those days.

My interest in collage began in 1980’s as an extension of my work as a filmmaker. Like a single still taken from a movie, each piece explores the interaction between photographic realness and abstract imagery.

Madrona Wine Merchants offers free wine tastings featuring 4-5 selections on a theme every Saturday from 2 until the bottles run out and on Sunday we offer a mini-tasting of two wines all day from 11-5.

“Nature’s lessons could be learned by bringing the soul to her, and letting it behold itself as in a mirror; the teaching could be passed on to others by means of art –
mainly the art of landscape painting.”

– Arthur Wesley Dow, 1920

“This where they walked and swam, hunted, dance and sang.”

– R.E.M., 1986

What began as a study and exercise in painting, developed into a love and wonder of a unique place. A love of attempting to capture this beauty, this given moment in this place. A wonder of the past times, of those previous generations who engaged this place. And though each generation tries to put its imprint on the place, the land endures our follies. The land leaves its imprint on us.

As I became educated of the place I was exploring and experiencing, my infatuation with it grew. The physical beauty that was before me had witnessed, as all places have, a storied history both “recorded” and unrecorded. The cliffs of the Magnolia Bluff expose a record of the Ice Age and an archaeological history of 25,000 years. How many souls have trekked along these shores, navigated these woods? How many people have fallen in love, or suffered loss, while in this place? How many hold a cherished memory that occurred here?

As for the recent “recorded” history, it too had me intrigued. In 1857, the “Magnolia Bluff” was misnamed during a U.S. Coast Survey when Lt. George Davidson mistakenly identified the red-barked madrona trees as magnolias. In 1898, acres of old growth were cleared to construct Fort Lawton. Since that time, this land has witnessed calvary troops, artillery installations, Presidential visits, soldier baseball games and dances, as well as prisoners of war, lynchings and other miscarriages of justice. And now, at 534 acres, it is the largest city park in Seattle, populated with photographers, cyclists, runners, bird watchers, naturalists, beachcombers. And at least one awe struck painter.

The park has left its imprint on me, and most likely countless others. In a sense, it is a mirror held up to us revealing the environmental challenges that confront us today with all places. What legacy will we pass along with the land to future generations? Will we cherish and nurture it, provide respectful stewardship and husbandry towards it so that it may be experienced by them as we have had the good fortune to?

I wish to express my gratitude to the Seattle Parks and Recreation and the Friends of Discovery Park. Your efforts in maintaining this wonderful landscape are greatly appreciated.

Charles Prutting

Madrona Wine Merchants offers free wine tastings featuring 4-5 selections on a theme every Saturday from 2 until the bottles run out and on Sunday we offer a mini-tasting of two wines all day from 11-5.

My paintings relate to forces that are below human activity or above it. The seashells in these paintings are made by creatures that live on the ocean floor; the clay in the ceramic objects comes from beneath the earth’s surface. The unconscious is represented by lava and blood. Floating objects suggest activity far above the earth’s surface. While we humans remain on the earth’s surface, our activity cannot be removed from these subterranean and atmospheric forces.

For a quick video look at the exhibit…

Madrona Wine Merchants offers free wine tastings featuring 4-5 selections on a theme every Saturday from 2 until the bottles run out and on Sunday we offer a mini-tasting of two wines all day from 11-5.

It is a beautiful summer weekend here in Madrona and the wine shop is bustling with all sorts of activity.

Saturday we are pouring Summer Specials that we have found from our distributors. We’ll have 3 whites and 3 reds open for tasting. Come snap up some bargains.2014 Natalino, La Caplana Gavi di Gavi Was $13 now $10 2013 Parejas Cellars Garnacha Blanca Was $15 now $122014 Adriano Finado Pinot Bianco Was $18 now $122010 Chateau Berneuitlh, Bordeaux Superieur Was $12 now $102012 Paternoster, Sorso Aglianico Was $16 now $122012 El Petit Carlania, Conca de Barbera, Trepat Was $15 now $12

Sunday is also the Artist Reception for our new art show by Levi Perez, Come talk with the artist from 3 to 5pm“SENTIENT” is the latest show of drawings by Madrona artist, Levi Perez demonstrating a personal portrayal of creatures in the wild. With a simple gesture in pen and ink, the journey begins with the extraordinary animals of the Sierras, unfolding portraits embellished with native graphics that echo respect of the First People.“The animals feel. They are among the living. They are deserved amongst the living as friend. Respect.” – Levi